Tanja Fajon

Tanja Fajon
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
for Slovenia
Assumed office
1 July 2014
Personal details
Born Tanja Anna Fajon
(1971-05-09) May 9, 1971
Ljubljana, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Political party Social Democrats
Spouse(s) Veit-Ulrich Braun
Children 1
Alma mater University of Ljubljana
University of Paris
Website Official website

Tanja Fajon (English: Tanya Fayon; born May 9, 1971) is a Slovenian politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Slovenia. She is a member of the Social Democrats, part of the Party of European Socialists.

She is currently a head of the Slovenian delegation within the political group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, and a vice-president of the Social Democrats.[1][2] She is also the author of several documentaries, including Rise of the extreme right in Europe, Human tragedies at the doorstep of Europe, and Constitution of European Union.[3]

Education

Tanja Fajon graduated in journalism at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. In 2005, she obtained a master's degree in Science and International Politics at the College of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Paris.[1][4]

Tanja Fajon speaks Slovenian, English, German, French, and Croatian.[2]

Career

Career in journalism

Tanja Fajon worked as a journalist and assistant editor at Radio Glas Ljubljana from 1991 to 1995. She was also a reporter and a writer for the Slovenian daily newspaper Republika in 1993. She worked for RTV Slovenia from 1995 to 2001 as a local journalist, and as a correspondent for RTV Slovenia in Brussels from 2001 to 2009.[2] She was also a reporter for CNN from 1995 to 2001.[4] She covered issues from politics, to economy and business, in different States of the European Union, particularly in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France.[3]

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–present

In 2009, Tajon was elected to the European Parliament on behalf of the Social Democrats, associated with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She was a vice chairwoman of the European Parliament delegation with Croatia until Croatia's membership in the European Union, and a member of the Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering.

She is a full member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, a substitute member in the Committee on Transport and Tourism, and a substitute member of the European Union-United States delegation. She is also a vice chairwoman of the European Parliament Intergroup on Media, responsible for monitoring freedom of the press in Europe; a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime);[5] a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights;[6] and a member of the delegation for the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee. In addition, she serves as a substitute member of the Delegation for relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, and was a rapporteur on the visa liberalisation process for the Western Balkans.[1][2][3]

Fajon contributed greatly to the Albanian citizens getting the right to freely travel in EU Schengen Area without visas.[7] This is the first step on Albania's path to European Union accession. In December 2010, a cafe named after Tanja Fajon was opened in her honor in Tirana, the capital of Albania.[8] She helped Bosnia and Herzegovina,[9] and Moldova gain freedom of Schengen movement as well.[3][10]

In late 2014, the two main political groups in the European Parliament agreed with Jean-Claude Juncker, then president-elect of the European Commission, that Fajon should be Slovenia’s member of the European Commission. However, the Slovenian government later announced that Violeta Bulc was going to be the country's nominee for the position of the European Commissioner on the Juncker Commission, replacing Alenka Bratušek.[11]

In 2016, Slovenian opinion polls showed her to be one of the most popular political figures in the country.[12]

Other activities

Personal life

Fajon lives mostly in Brussels with her husband Veit-Ulrich Braun, a German journalist.[3] Her hobbies are sports, music, and traveling.[2]

Honors and awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tanja Fajon - PES". Party of European Socialists.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tanja Fajon - EU40". Network of MEPs under 40.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tanja FAJON, Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Bled Forum. 2014.
  4. 1 2 "The Seven Slovenian MEPs". Slovenian Government Communication Office. 2009.
  5. ↑ Members of the European Parliament on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime) European Parliament.
  6. ↑ Members European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights.
  7. ↑ "Pahor Says Visa Liberation Is Dream Come True for Albania". Slovenian Press Agency. 2010.
  8. ↑ "Albanian Cafe Named After Slovenian MEP". Slovenian Press Agency. 2010.
  9. 1 2 "MEP Tanja Fajon named Person of the year in Bosnia and Herzegovina". Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2009.
  10. ↑ "S&D Euro MP Tanja Fajon gives green light to visa-free movement between Moldova and EU Schengen countries". Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. 2014.
  11. ↑ "Violeta Bulc je slovenska kandidatka za evropsko komisarko". RTV SLO. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Ryan Heath (May 19, 2016), The 40 MEPs who actually matter: Tanja Fajon Politico Europe.
  13. ↑ Members European Council on Foreign Relations.
  14. ↑ "Tanja Fajon received the Honorary Doctorate". American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 2010.
  15. ↑ "Tanja Fajon, first honorary doctorate" (in Bosnian). Nezavisne novine. 2010.
  16. ↑ "NES award 'European Radio BIH'" (in Bosnian). Nezavisne novine. 2014.
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